PULLMAN — Junior guard Tyrell Roberts scored 17 points as Washington State defeated Seattle 79-61 on Friday at Beasley Coliseum for the Cougars’ 20th consecutive nonconference victory.

“I thought it was really another step forward tonight,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said.

Roberts hit four 3-pointers and was joined in double figures by sophomore center Dishon Jackson and junior guard Noah Williams with 13 points each and freshman forward Mouhamed Gueye with 10. Jackson and sophomore guard TJ Bamba each grabbed nine rebounds. The Cougars (2-0) shot 48 percent which helped blunt a 19-of-33 performance at the free-throw line.

“We have a lot more pieces,” Williams said of the difference between this year’s team and last year. “We have a lot more players and scorers than we did.”

The Redhawks (1-1) were led by Nate Robinson who made four 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Riley Grigsby added 12 points, Darrion Trammel scored 11 points with seven assists and Viktor Rajkovi had 10 points and eight rebounds.

With WSU leading by three points at halftime, Gueye opened the second half with a dunk. That began a 14-3 run that left the Cougars ahead 49-35 less five minutes into the half.

“I’m usually pretty mild-mannered, but I was a little hot and challenged Dishon and Efe (Abogidi), because I thought Brandt kind of turned the tide for them defensively,” Smith said. “I think he had five rebounds and two blocks and made a couple of big plays. I said, ‘C’mon fellas, no one wants to see (former Clarkston forward and WSU transfer) Brandton (Chatfield) succeed more than me but not tonight.’ We responded well. We should have a team that can wear you down. We’ve got depth, we’ve got good size and as they got older, more mature and more confident, that’ll be the mark of our team.”

Williams said there wasn’t that much of a change in the second half.

“Nothing really changed,” he said. “We just got the ball moving better and we stayed together. That’s all that really happened. I don’t think it got into my hands more than normal. I just feel like we play well together, and we got stops on defense, and that’s really where it started, and we running them off the 3-point line.”

Jackson had six straight points in under two minutes to keep the lead in double figures before the Redhawks got within nine on a basket by Rajkovi. That was as close as Seattle would get.

“Coach told us to get back at it at halftime,” Jackson said. “They were plus-7 on the glass and he made it an emphasis to put people on them in the paint, and that’s what we did.”

Seattle scored the game’s first four points but the Cougars responded with a 10-0 run and clung to a 35-32 lead at halftime.

Chatfield finished with two points and six rebounds.

“Coach made it an emphasis to put a body on him, because he likes to crash and he probably had a personal thing going on with this game, so we made it a (point) to box him out and go get the ball.”

Seattle played its second game since Jim Hayford announced his resignation as coach Thursday. Hayford had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 5 after a published report that he had used a racial slur during a scrimmage. Associate coach Chris Victor was named interim coach and got his first Division I victory in a 69-66 win Wednesday against Alcorn State.

SEATTLE (1-1)

Udenyi 1-3 2-2 4, Trammell 3-13 4-5 11, Tyson 1-8 0-0 3, Williamson 0-2 0-0 0, Grigsby 4-9 4-7 12, Rajkovic 3-6 2-3 10, Robinson 6-11 1-1 17, Chatfield 1-2 0-0 2, Brown 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 19-55 15-20 61.

WASHINGTON ST. (2-0)

Gueye 3-7 4-7 10, Abogidi 0-3 2-4 2, Flowers 2-5 3-3 8, Roberts 4-9 5-5 17, Williams 6-10 1-5 13, Bamba 2-7 2-4 8, Jakimovski 0-2 0-0 0, Jackson 6-7 1-3 13, Koulibaly 2-2 1-2 6, Rodman 1-1 0-0 2, DeWolf 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 19-33 79.

Halftime: Washington St., 35-32. 3-Point Goals: Seattle 8-24 (Robinson 4-7, Rajkovic 2-3, Trammell 1-3, Tyson 1-6, Brown 0-1, Grigsby 0-2, Williamson 0-2), Washington St. 8-23 (Roberts 4-8, Bamba 2-4, Koulibaly 1-1, Flowers 1-4, Abogidi 0-1, Jakimovski 0-1, Williams 0-1, Gueye 0-3). Fouled Out: Trammell. Rebounds: Seattle 29 (Rajkovic 8), Washington St. 36 (Bamba, Jackson 9). Assists: Seattle 9 (Trammell 7), Washington St. 9 (Williams, Bamba, Jakimovski 2). Total Fouls: Seattle 26, Washington St. 22. A: 3,878 (11,671).